Soviet Character for the Twilight 2000
Soviet Character Creation (1st Edition) Soviet Character Creation (1st Edition) below is sourced from David Bober's book on the subject Creating the Perfect Soviet Character for the Twilight: 2000 OPFOR Game, Arberdeen Proving Grounds, MD 30 Nov, 2004'. Background information ‘Come on you bastards! You sons of whores! One more time! We can take that machinegun! Come of you sons of bitches! For the glory of the Motherland! Urahhhh!' '' Senior Sergeant G. I. Karpov, 56th Air Assault Brigade, shortly before his posthumous award of Hero of the Soviet Union These background notes are intended as a guide to help players develop personal histories for Soviet military characters. Players of Twilight:2000 who live in Western Europe and North America typically have a reasonable knowledge of their own armed forces, thanks either to their own military service, or through the openness of our governments and media. Players often do not have the same understanding of the Soviet military. There are two reasons for this. The first is that the Soviet Union was notoriously secretive about its military information, and consequently there was little reliable information available to the public at the time. The second is that the Soviet Union no longer exists, and consequently there has been little interest in researching something considered irrelevant to most people. This guide aims to rectify that. Slightly. There are several factors that need to be considered when developing a Soviet character. First is who your character is and where he comes from. Second is how he joins the military and what kind of training and service he experienced prior to the outbreak of the Twilight War. Lastly we need to consider his wartime experience and the processes by which he has become a battle-hardened Frontovik. Character creation '''The Name Game' I remember the first time an American POW called me Ivan. It nearly scared the life out of me. How did he know my name? I stole his boots anyway. That shut him up. Private Ivan Ivanovich Ivanov First things first, selecting your character’s name. Selecting the right name is half the battle. A good name will give your character definition from the get-go. You will need a first name, a middle name, and a last name. In selecting names for Soviet characters a quick Google or Wikipedia search can be very helpful. When I name NPCs for my games I often raid historical lists of Soviet Olympic competitors, or the USSR national soccer team, or dead poets, painters and authors. All of these are good sources of inspiration. Just make sure you avoid REALLY famous people. Having a rifleman called Boris Nikolayovich Yeltsin would be funny for about 5-minutes, but then you’d be stuck with it. One place that it’s common to get stuck is the Russian tradition of patronymic middle names (based on your father’s name), and diminutive nicknames (often based on word-play). For example, let’s deconstruct the name Aleksander Nikolayovich Molasky. His first name is Aleksander, which is common enough. His middle name is Nikolayovich because his father was called Nikolay and Nikolayovich is the patronymic. His last name is Molasky, his family name, which is also common enough. Army records might show our man as Sergeant A. N. Molanksy. Old school friends and Army buddies might call him Aleksander Nikolayovich. His mother, bless her heart, might still call him by his childhood diminutive name, Sasha. Language Must speak Russian. Dah! Conscription ‘I can’t say I was looking forward to it.’ Private Ivan Ivanovich Ivanov Soviet males are drafted at age 18. As a direct result of the male draft, the number of women serving in the Soviet Army is small when compared to Western all-volunteer armies (e.g. American and British). There are 2 drafts during the year. The first group of recruits is drafted between May-June, and the second group is drafted between November-December. If your character was born January through June he will be in the early call-up. If he was born July through December he will be in the later call-up. Under the Soviet system, draft dodging was not as common as it has become in the new (post-communist) Russia, nor quite as prevalent as Western media sources would claim. There are two main reasons for this: First, military service was seen as a rite of passage for young men. You did it because of tradition (your father did it, and your grandfather did it), and because it will “make a man out of you”, and also because all your buddies are going and you don’t want to be the odd one out. You should also remember that Soviet citizens were indoctrinated from an early age that military service is a duty to the Motherland. The second reason why people succumbed to the draft was because the punishments were severe and strictly enforced. Conscription was an exercise in Soviet state control… and you if you bucked against the Soviet state, then you did so at risk of your life. INFANTRY * Rifleman - 'Roll 4; Required N/A Skill Benefit: CRM 20 * '''Mortar Crewman -' Roll 5; Required N/A Skill Benefit: CRM 20, IF 20, 82mm and 120mm mortars. * 'AT Specialist - '''Roll 5; Required N/A Skill Benefit: CRM 20, HW 20 * '''APC Crewman - '''Roll 5; Required N/A Skill Benefit: CRM 20, TVD 20, ''APC cmdrs, drivers, gunners * 'Scout/Sniper - '''Roll 7; Required CON Skill Benefits: CRM 40, RCN 20, FO 20, ''Includes recon battalion scouts '''ARMOR * Tank Crewman - 'Roll 5; Required N/A Skill Benefit: TVD20, LCG20 , ''Tank cmdrs, drivers, gunners * 'Recon Crewman -' Roll 6; Required INT Skill Benefit: TVD20, RCN40, Scout car crews '''ARTILLERY * Towed Art. Crew - 'Roll 5; Required STR Skill Benefit: IF20, LCG20 * '''SP Art. Crew -' Roll 6; Required STR Skill Benefit: IF40, TVD20 * 'Missile Crew - '''Roll 7; Required STR, INT Skill Benefit: IF40, CMP40, ''Multiple Rocket Launcher and SCUD crews * '''Fire Support - '''Roll 7; Required INT Skill Benefit: FO40, FAC20, COM20 '''ENGINEER * Bridge Crew - 'Roll 5; Required STR Skill Benefit: TVD20, CVE20 * '''Combat Engineer -' Roll 6; Required CON Skill Benefit: CBE ½ cost, DEM ½ cost * 'Engineer Recon - '''Roll 7; Required CON, INT Skill Benefit: CBE ½ cost,RCN40, CHM20, ''Specialist engineer and NBC reconnaissance '''MEDICAL * Combat Medic - '''Roll 6; Required INT Skill Benefit: MED ½ cost '''INTELLIGENCE * Human Intelligence - 'Roll 8; Required INT Skill Benefit: 2 languages ½ cost, INT40 * '''Signals Intelligence -' Roll 8; Required INT Skill Benefit: 1 language ½ cost, COM ½ cost, CMP40 '''SUPPORT * 'Logistics - '''Roll - auto; Required N/A Skill Benefit: WVD ½ cost, ''Motor transport units. * 'Vehicle Maint. -' Roll - auto; Required N/A Skill Benefit: MEC ½ cost * 'Electronic Maint. - '''Roll - auto; Required N/A Skill Benefit: ELC ½ cost * '''Aircraft Maint. - '''Roll - auto; Required N/A Skill Benefit: ACM ½ cost * '''Commandants Service - '''Roll 5; Required N/A Skill Benefits: MCY20, PST20, ''Traffic control, guard service, garrison police Rank tables Rank tables from David Bober's Book Creating the Perfect Soviet Character for the Twilight: 2000 OPFOR Game, Arberdeen Proving Grounds, MD 30 Nov, 2004 pg35 and are modified from the base rules. Enlisted Officer External links * David Bober's Book on Creating the Perfect Soviet Character for the Twilight: 2000 OPFOR Game https://img.4plebs.org/boards/tg/image/1494/89/1494897950593.pdfDavid Bober Book for creating Soviet Characters Category: Soviet Character Creation Category: OPFOR Category:Character Creation Category:Background Material